Famous accordionist and band leader Jimmy Shand was born here. There is a memorial to him near the foreshore.

Jimmy is more associated with another Fife village, Auchtermuchty, where his family moved soon after his birth. His signature tune was The Bluebell Polka, a hit in 1955. The video below was filmed in 1994. He was knighted in 1999.

Jimmy Shand: The Bluebell Polka

East Wemyss is known for a series of caves some of which have carvings which date back to Pictish times. The TV series Time Team investigated the caves in 2005.

The East Wemyss War Memorial is nicely set on a corner. The WW2 names are on the lower plaque. There is also one name for a post-World War conflict.

We somehow missed the Coaltown of Wemyss war memorial on the day the above photos were taken despite driving through it twice in broad daylight. Curiously on the next Tuesday as I was returning home from the East Fife game in the dark I did see it; on the gable-end of a building on the main street. So, next time.

[…] and accordionist Jimmy Shand. He was born in another Fife town East Wemyss, which I blogged about here. In that post you can also find an embedded video of Shand’s most famous tune The Bluebell […]